New York Town Extends Natural Gas Drilling Moratorium

On May 20, 2013, the Town of Canandaigua, New York, adopted a local law to extend by nine months a moratorium on all natural gas exploration and extraction activities within the town.  The new local law extends the initial 18-month moratorium passed by the Town Board, which was scheduled to expire on June 22, 2013, until March 22, 2014.  The Town Board indicated that the nine-month extension will allow for the development of a local law to permanently ban high volume hydraulic fracturing activities within the town.